I really don’t want to play Go!

Chapter 476 Eagle Falls from the Sky
(P.S.: I misspelled the names in the previous chapter. There were just too many people, and too many spectators. I kept switching between Zheng Qin's perspective, Ander's perspective, and Yu Shao's perspective, and I got confused while writing. I did it twice! My bad.)
"How can it be……"

Ander was pale and sweating profusely. He couldn't believe that his move had led to this situation—not only had he failed to gain the upper hand, but he had even—

"The tide has turned?"

It now appears that Black's offensive is relentless and continuous, even suffocating to think about. On the other hand, although White's pieces are coordinated and the overall situation is balanced, White has few initiative moves and its life and death are in question.

Therefore, anyone who knows a little about Go can easily conclude that Black has the advantage on the board. Ander was no exception, but he couldn't accept it from the bottom of his heart.

"Click!"

Ander's eyes twitched twice, he clenched his teeth tightly, his expression full of unwillingness, and picked up another chess piece, quickly placing it down!
Hey!
Twelve columns and twelve rows, so long!

Yu Shao stared at the chessboard, his expression still focused and serious. His attitude was not like that of someone who had the advantage in black pieces, but rather like someone who was in a tough battle, and he was very solemn.

That's indeed the case!

At this point in the game, everyone, including Ander, would readily conclude that Black has the advantage. However, Yu Shao disagrees!
Many times, Yu Shaoming clearly had the advantage, but others considered it a disadvantage. However, this game was completely different—

Others believe that Black has the advantage, but the two sides are actually still evenly matched!
Although the "hanging" move, a high-flying technique in the opening stage that harmonizes the whole board, is not common in the past, it is still a move that even Go AI once highly praised, and it is far from simple!
This move was abandoned simply because it was too intense and complex, and the side that sacrificed a piece had a slightly better chance of winning. It was abandoned just because of that "slightly" better chance of winning, because chess players strive for perfection, not because there is anything wrong with having this move!

Black certainly has many first moves and a fierce attack, but White also has many colorful and ingenious moves, enough to rival Black. If White plays well, White can also win!
Yu Shao didn't believe that Ander could pull off such a stunning feat without finding these methods!

"We have to go all out, otherwise, I might lose."

Yu Shao picked up another chess piece and quickly placed it down!
Hey!
Eight columns and eleven rows, Tiger!
In his view, the fierce battle has only just begun!
"Tiger!"

Everyone froze, a tense atmosphere filling the entire chessboard!

"The tiger's mouth is the most aggressive move. By securing the break here, it means that the break points of the other two groups of stones are completely ignored. We will directly attack the white territory and forcefully demand that white make a statement!"

Some people's eyes were filled with horror.

This is a desperate move, the most aggressive tactic in the local area. In his view, Black already has the advantage and there are many ways to attack. There is no need to play like this. He should just make progress slowly!

Using the tiger's mouth completely leaves White no way out, but it also cuts off its own escape route, which makes no sense at all!

Looking at this tiger-like move, Ander felt an immense pressure bearing down on him, his back already completely soaked with sweat.

A moment later, he bit his lip, clicked the chess piece, and placed it back on the chessboard!

Hey!
Hey!
Hey!
The sound of pieces being placed repeatedly began to echo in everyone's ears!

The chess pieces landed on the board, seemingly transforming into flashing swords and shadows, constantly appearing before everyone's eyes.

"Faced with a block from a white stone, black chose to push out, and white naturally responded with a flying move, intending to counterattack. However, black chose... to directly cut off?"

Kimura Go looked down at the Go board, his expression extremely solemn, his mind completely unsettled: "Is there a completely new understanding of the timing of cutting here? There's even this kind of attack method, it's completely unexpected, too fierce."

"Compared to his previous chess records, his sense of life and death in the game is much sharper."

The others around were also watching the chessboard with trepidation.

They originally thought that even though Black had the advantage, Ander, as the dark horse of this competition, was able to hold on with that amazing "hanging" move, and might even surprise everyone.

but……

Under Black's relentless and fierce offensive, White could only take hits on one side, constantly trying to escape and secure its own group. Let alone counterattack, it seemed difficult to even put up a fight!

More precisely, every move Black makes now is a pursuit and attack!

This is a chase that spans a thousand miles!

After another dozen or so moves, the competition venue became even quieter.

……

……

The Korean Go Association, in the game review room.

"Absolutely awesome..."

A long-haired young man stared at the television screen, his face covered in cold sweat: "He's not giving White any way out at all, it's simply... ruthless! In order to penetrate, he doesn't even care about his own poor position, he's convinced that he can kill White in one fell swoop!"

"After this series of sacrifices, every initiative was utilized to the fullest, with a seamless and interconnected invasion and penetration, powerful and heavy, rampaging through the white formation!"

"I'm afraid White has already..."

He opened his mouth slightly, but ultimately couldn't say what he was going to say.

However, everyone else in the debriefing room knew what he wanted to say.

Lee Joon-hyuk's expression was so serious it was almost dripping with tears.

White has probably already lost!
They didn't know if White could escape from Black's grasp at the beginning, but Black's spirit was truly astonishing. As if certain that White was doomed, Black recklessly invaded White's territory, causing a tremendous upheaval.

White did put up some resistance; in fact, White played several good moves and at one point almost turned Black's lower left corner into a bad shape. However, seeing that the lower left corner was in danger, Black completely disregarded it in order to seize the initiative and capture the king!
This is quite frightening!
It's important to understand that the area in the lower left corner is Black's most important large group of stones. There's no possibility that Black can still manage to fight back through exchanges and initiative if this large group of stones is destroyed. If there's a problem with this large group of stones, and the battle is prolonged, Black will definitely lose!

However, Black ignored the foolish shape of this large group of stones and focused solely on attacking White's territory, demanding a quick victory. Just how much pressure did this put on White?
Even if they weren't the white pieces who were in the game, they could still sense it!

Is it certain that Black can break through territory by taking the initiative?

Black has many first moves, but it's not guaranteed to break through enemy territory. Perhaps it's worth a gamble!
This is a difficult choice, a matter of life and death!
In the end, since Ander was in control, he didn't dare to gamble and didn't dare to continue attacking Black's foolish shape. Instead, he withdrew to the center and maneuvered around Black.

In fact, if they asked themselves honestly, they probably wouldn't dare to gamble either, unless they could calculate everything completely, but the market was too complex and fragmented to calculate at all!
On the contrary, Black's domineering and unreasonable momentum seemed to indicate that they had already calculated White's doom, even though they knew that this was impossible.

But what if?
Nobody dares to gamble on that one inexplicable outcome!

……

……

Inside the competition venue, chess pieces continued to be placed.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

White's defense was very tenacious, but Black still almost completely suppressed White's stones. Moreover, the killing in the center was almost a single move, and White had completely collapsed!
Finally, after a while, a black piece was placed on the board.

it's over!
When Yu Shao placed another piece, Ande did not place any more pieces, because no matter how he played, it was no use.

The outcome of this game is already decided.

Black wins decisively.

Although no white stones were killed and the large group of stones was alive, the territory that white had surrounded was far too small. After the large territory in the center was completely destroyed by black, white had no chance left.

There's no need to count the points anymore. Even if you include the komi, at a glance, Black is at least ten points ahead, and this gap is almost impossible to close in the endgame.

Although he won, Yu Shao frowned slightly as he looked at the chessboard in front of him.

"How can it be……"

"impossible……"

Across from him, Ander stared at the chessboard in front of him, his face pale and his pupils slightly unfocused. He was completely unable to accept the current outcome and had suffered an unprecedented blow!
He originally thought that after making that lob move, the situation should be smooth sailing from here on out, since most of the previous games had been like that.

If judged solely on skill, he was no match for Zhang Dongchen. However, it was precisely because he played a different variation of the "Young Eagle" move that even Zhang Dongchen ultimately lost to him!
Those are fledgling eagles!

But now, instead, he has encountered...

The biggest and most devastating defeat of his professional Go career.

Everyone has moments when they get their dragons killed in the middle game. This doesn't count as a crushing defeat. A real crushing defeat is when you don't even kill the dragons. The dragons are all alive, but you can't enclose enough territory and you fall behind in a gap similar to killing the dragons. Therefore, you have no choice but to resign!
After a moment, in the silence, Ander finally lowered his head deeply.

"I lost……"

Upon hearing Ande resign, Yu Shao turned his gaze away from Ande and back to the chessboard, his brows furrowing slightly.

He had expected this game to be a fierce contest, and he was even prepared for a tough battle. However, he almost single-handedly invaded the white territory, tearing the white pieces' large territory to pieces.

In the mid-game battle, Ander's performance was only slightly better than Zheng Qin's, not the kind of performance that could last until the third round of a double-elimination tournament.

However, Yu Shao didn't think too much about it. He quickly nodded slightly to Ander, then stood up and walked towards Zhuang Weisheng and An Hongshi's table.

The duel between Zhuang Weisheng and An Hongshi is not over yet.

Not only is Zhuang Weisheng and An Hongshi locked in a fierce battle, but Su Yiming and Dongshan Xun are also still locked in a fierce battle.

Even after Yu Shao left, Ande remained seated with his head bowed, clearly still unable to accept the fact that he had lost the game.

Or rather, it's unacceptable.

An indescribable, profound sense of powerlessness enveloped almost his entire body.

The people around did not leave immediately. They stared at the chessboard, fell into silence, and felt extremely complicated.

They never expected that Ander would come up with such a bizarre move as "Hanging". This move was simply a genius idea, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as "a celestial being descending from the heavens".

But what shocked them even more was that Ander still lost.

After White established a balance on the board following the "hanging" move, Black inexplicably underestimated itself instead of building a solid position. Ultimately, through a series of sacrifices, Black launched a relentless offensive, miraculously defeating White.

How could someone, faced with a balanced attack from all sides, choose a lighter approach instead of a heavy one?
How could anyone dare to so decisively abandon pieces one after another?!
What kind of thinking, judgment, imagination, and skill were required to break through this situation in such a way on the first encounter with this board position?!
It's already quite an exaggeration that someone could play that move, but this is far more exaggerated than that move.

Yesterday, I thought Arakino was a strong contender for the championship because of the game between Arakino and Su Yiming, but now, after watching the game between Yu Shao and An De, I'm a bit confused again...

Yu Shao was completely unaware of what everyone was thinking.

He stood among the crowd around table number two, his mind completely absorbed in the game of chess.

In this game, Zhuang Weisheng played black and An Hongshi played white.

In this game, the two sides did not engage in large-scale, fierce battles, but instead continued to encircle each other, resulting in a fragmented and narrow board position. It was clearly a protracted and subtle struggle that would likely go to the endgame to determine the winner.

On the chessboard, seven dragons dance together, winding and twisting. Both sides invade and transform the encircled territory and the invisible. Although the situation is not intense, every move is a battle of wits and every penny counts, requiring an extremely high level of skill to support it.

Yu Shao once played a game against Zhuang Weisheng in the main tournament of the National Masters Tournament. In that game, Zhuang Weisheng's performance made Yu Shao's expression somewhat serious.

Zhuang Weisheng had a good grasp of the overall situation, but his handling of details was a bit rough. However, in this game, Zhuang Weisheng was very meticulous, and his playing style became very simple, giving a sense of great skill without artifice.

Even now, An Hongshi is already facing a tough battle!

"However, An Hongshi will not sit idly by and wait for his doom."

Yu Shao thought to himself silently.

On the chessboard, black and white pieces alternately fall, composing a magnificent symphony together.

Just as Yu Shao had predicted, An Hongshi began to use the ko to make a big exchange, leaving everyone speechless. However, Zhuang Weisheng made a counterattack, using the small eye in the upper right corner of the board to launch a fierce attack and defense, and actually caught An Hongshi in the middle again!
The originally calm board was completely shattered. Everyone, including Yu Shao, thought that the game would end in a decisive endgame, but An Hongshi used violence to fight violence, and with a "jump" move, he opened up a complete slaughter in the middle and late game!

Zhuang Weisheng's large dragon was forcibly cut off, and it seemed like An Hongshi would win the game. However, Zhuang Weisheng remained unmoved and cleverly used the surrounding pieces to fight to the endgame with an astonishingly ingenious move!
Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Time continued to pass, and the chess pieces continued to be placed.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, Zhuang Weisheng stared at the chessboard in front of him, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "I lost."

The surroundings were completely silent, and Yu Shao remained silent as well.

Zhuang Weisheng's performance in this game was already alarming, but he still lost.

Lost.

Half an eye...

…………

P.S.: Guys, it's October! Please vote for me next month! I'm begging you! I'm practically begging you!

　Asking for a monthly ticket!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)